Hirokazu Koreeda's work has been recommended to me by a few people, and I'm ashamed to say this is the first of his movies I have seen. Based on 'Like Father, Like Son' I am now in a rush to see a few more. It is an excellent film that deals with raw human emotion. But the genius is the way Koreeda shows us that emotion. There are beautiful looking films and then there are just beautiful films. This falls into the latter category.

This story centres around receiving the inexplicable news that your child was swapped at birth and your real child lives a few miles away ion the next town. That's a horrific thing for anybody to deal with but Koreeda doesn't show us the hysterical scream fits that both mothers would have no doubt had, he instead deals with the inner turmoil and pain that anyone in this position would no doubt feel. Questioning yourself to understand if you could have done something different. Examining your morals and your judgments on others.

The main protagonist is Ryota, expertly played by Masaharu Fukuyama. Through his journey we see that he has to learn alot about his role in the family even though he thinks he has made it as the main breadwinner with a high powered job. The use of pianos, kites and robots are all fantastic mechanisms to enable us to see how he views his "son", and the level of expectation placed upon him. In one scene towards the end in particular (you could very loosely call it a reveal scene) the emotions become too much for Ryota and we finally see him learning and accepting what his role in the family should ultimately be. How Koreeda manages to weave this into the plot is just masterful film-making.

It's such a simple concept - child swapped at birth = tragedy. But not many people could write a screenplay and direct a 2 hour feature on the turmoil and upheaval of family life based around it. Koreeda manages it, and also enables every single actor in this movie to nail their roles. Great film